The Telegraph originally reported​​ on Friday (26 July) that the supermarket giant, which is still reeling from the collapse of its £7.3bn merger deal with Asda earlier this year, had held early talks with UberEats about launching a grocery delivery service.

It said that the two businesses were understood to be working on a tie-up that would allow shoppers to order staples such as bread or milk from Sainsbury’s on the UberEats app.

“We talk to many companies about potential partnerships that could help our customers access convenient and affordable products,” said a Sainsbury’s spokesman, regarding the prospective tie-up.

The UK’s food delivery market is already worth £8.1bn and is expected to grow to £9.8bn by 2021, according to the MCA​ Foodservice Delivery report 2018.

Earlier this month it was reported that Asda, which already worked with Just Eat to deliver freshly-cooked pizzas, would expand its partnership with the service to include groceries too.